A Year in Books - September

August, being such a busy month with visitors received, visits made and then being away for a week in Norfolk with other family members, I didn't manage to find as much time for reading as I'd hoped.  I did manage to read two books, but one wasn't one that I initially intended to read.  Instead, it was another title by the same author, that I picked up from the local Little Free Library and decided to read first.

I returned it this morning and then realised that I never took a photograph of it, but it was by Sophie Kinsella and was called Shopaholic Abroad.  It followed on from the first Confessions of a Shopaholic book that I read a few months ago and was another entertaining read by this author.  In this book the main character, having paid off her debts and found her dream job in television, finds that her bad habits start to creep in again and before long she finds herself getting into debt and other troubles once again.  This is exacerbated by the chance of a potential move to the US, whereby a visit causes her to overspend in New York stores.   At this point, the plot starts to get interesting and by the end of the book she does manage to redeem herself and get her life back in order, but I won't tell you how that comes about.  I really enjoyed this book, it was great summer reading.  The other title, Remember Me?, that I intended to read in August, will now become one of September's reads.

The second book I completed in August was 'Digging to America' by Anne Tyler.  I enjoyed this book too, which was very acutely observed, especially with regard to the dynamics of family life.  In this book two separate families who both adopt a child from another country are drawn together by this event and their lives become entwined, year by year as the children grow.  This book also tackles what it means to feel a 'foreigner' or an 'outsider' living in a different culture and feeling like one doesn't fit in and the difficulties and possibilities that this conjures up for the characters concerned.  A very interesting read.

Finally, I started to read Joanne Harris's 'Blue Eyed Boy' this month, but am currently only a few chapters in, so this is going to carry over and become a September read, hopefully followed by the Sophie Kinsella title mentioned above and then finally I hope to read another book by Lucy Diamond called Sweet Temptation which sounds relatively light and entertaining.  I enjoyed her previous book about a beach cafe earlier in the summer and as summer comes to an end I'm hoping this will be perfect reading to take me into autumn.

Joining in with Laura at The Circle of Pine Trees in reading at least one book a month for a year.